Ten more Sears and Kmart stores have been added to the growing list of locations slated for closure, a move that represents another step in the diminishment of what were once two of the nation's most prominent shopping chains.

Sears Holdings, which owns both chains, said it informed employees Thursday that it would be shuttering nine Sears stores and one Kmart in late September. Liquidation is scheduled to begin as early as July 13, the company said in a statement.

With the additions, a total of 78 stores – 62 Sears and 16 Kmart locations – will close in September.

The addition of 10 wasn't a total surprise. In announcing May 31 that it would close 63 stores, Sears Holdings said that it had identified a total of 100 underperforming stores – meaning they could be on the chopping block.

Five more Sears stores were added to the closure list on June 6.

Sears and Kmart just keep shrinking. Sears Holdings has closed more than 500 stores over 15 months through the end of its fiscal quarter on May 5. At the time, it had about 900 stores left, according to Susquehanna International Group retail stock analyst Bill Dreher.

The closures come as Sears Holdings piles up losses. For the first fiscal quarter, Sears reported a net loss of $424 million compared to net income of $245 million in the year-ago period when the company had a temporary gain from the sale of its Craftsman brand.

The chains have had to deal with declining mall traffic and heightened online competition.

Sears said Monday that the closures were part of the company's “ongoing efforts to streamline the company's operations and focus on our best stores.”

Referring to the closure of a single store in Florida, it said “eligible associates impacted by the store closure will receive severance and will have the opportunity to apply for open positions at area Kmart or Sears stores,” the statement said.

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Florida

Michigan

Montana

New York

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: Sears at4400 S Western Ave

Virginia

Virginia Beach: Sears at4588 Virginia Beach Blvd

Chesapeake: Sears at1401 Greenbrier Parkway

Wisconsin

Madison: Sears at53 West Towne Mall C

Customers shop at Chicago's last remaining Sears store May 3, 2018 in Chicago. The store, which opened in 1938, is scheduled to close in July. Sears opened its first retail store in Chicago in 1925.(Photo: SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES)

June 6 closings list

Less than a week after announcing 63 stores would close, the company added five more Sears stores to the list, which also are set to close in early September.

Connecticut

Waterbury: Sears at 425 Union St Waterbury

Nebraska

Omaha: Sears at 3420 Oak View Drive

Louisiana

Monroe: Sears at 4800 Millhaven Road

Shreveport: Sears at 3601 Southern Ave.

Bossier City: Sears at 2950 E Texas St

The Kmart on Richmond's west side, 3150 National Road West, is seen Thursday, May 31, 2018.(Photo: Mickey Shuey/Palladium-Item)

May 31 closings list

On May 31, Sears announced the following 63 stores would close in early September, which includes 15 Kmart and 48 Sears stores:

Customers look at a display of winter coats in a Sears store in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Company chairman Eddie Lampert has put in a bid to keep the business running in its entirety. Mark Lennihan, AP

Forty-five Kmart stores and 18 Sears stores will be closing in late January 2018, the company said Thursday. Hal Degraff, of Livonia, Mich., stopped by to take a photograph of the Livonia Kmart. He has shopped there for at least a dozen years and said that he will miss it. Bill Bresler, USA TODAY NETWORK

Customers shop at Chicago's last remaining Sears store May 3, 2018 in Chicago. The store, which opened in 1938, is scheduled to close in July. Sears opened its first retail store in Chicago in 1925. SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

Signs in the window of a Sears store advertise the store's closing on May 3, 2018 in Chicago. . The store, which opened in 1938, is the city's last remaining Sears store. Sears opened its first retail store in Chicago in 1925. SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

On Nov. 3, 2017, it was announced a total of 63 K-Mart and Sears stores have been targeted for closure to cut costs. Traffic passes by a Sears department store in Brooklyn's Flatbush, in New York. Sears, once the monolith of American retail, in March 2017 announced that there is "substantial doubt" that it will be able to keep its doors open. Bebeto Matthews, AP

Generations of Americans picked their holiday gifts from Sears catalogues, first published in 1933. In 2017 Sears brought back its "Wish Book'' with a digital twist hoping to lure consumers back to the retailer of toys, appliances and apparel. Sears, Roebuck and Co.

A shopper walks up to a Sears department store at the Tri-County Mall, in Springdale, Ohio in this March 2017 file photo. Sears will no longer sell Whirlpool appliances, ending a business partnership that dates make more than 100 years. John Minchillo, AP

Customers shop at a Kmart store on Aug. 24, 2017 in Elmhurst, Illinois. Sears Holdings Corporation, the owner of Kmart, said today it was planning on closing another 28 Kmart store including this Elmhurst location. Scott Olson, Getty Images

A sign announcing the store will be closing hangs above a Sears store on Aug. 24, 2017 in Chicago. Sears Holdings Corporation, which owns both Sears and Kmart, said it was planning on closing another 28 Kmart stores. Scott Olson, Getty Images

This is a vintage Sears Roebuck & Co. in Rochester, N.Y. The company that operates Sears, the department store chain that dominated retail for decades, warned March 21, 2017, that it faces "substantial doubt" about its ability to stay in business unless it can borrow more and tap cash from more of its assets. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle via the USA TODAY Network

Sears, which at the end of its fiscal year had about 140,000 employees, said that it expects to continue to try to generate cash from real estate sales and borrowing. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle via the USA TODAY Network

Founded in 1886, Sears was built around its famous catalog that was so complete that entire houses could be ordered -- delivered in pieces to be built on a site. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle via the USA TODAY Network

Sears is under financial pressure and has warned it may fail. But it has seen many better days. Here, Sears store associates in Schaumburg, Ill. help customers shop more than 1,000 doorbuster deals on Thanksgiving Day in 2015 Jean-Marc Giboux, AP Images for Sears